Social networking has to be one of the biggest #trends that is booming in not only society, but schools today. I was surprised after reading Jones (2008), that "texting, chatting, virtual worlds and popular social networking sites like MySpace are the tools least utilized in elementary, middle and high school curricula". I feel like that might have been the case in 2008, but I don't personally feel like that is the case now in schools. I know personally, our school uses Facebook to put out important information and it is constantly viewed all day. Our neighboring high school media center has a Twitter account created where students can follow and tweet what they are currently reading. The media specialist there says she loves it, and it is the most used application that she has ever integrated.
I think the use of social networking becomes what we want it to be and we decide how much it gets used in schools. I don't mean we as a media specialist group, I mean we as in a person affiliated with schools.
I feel like social networking could be a big integral part of schools and the media center, but a problem goes back to our previous posting regarding internet filtering. What we are using right now, Blogger, is a great social networking tool that I think students would love to use if they were led in the right direction, but that is going to be a no go in my county. We use Google, which offers Blogger as one of the apps, however, in my county, that app is turned off...period. Even the override login can't break into that one. This just doesn't go for Blogger, it goes for ANY blogging site. The reason being is that the teacher doesn't have a fair way of monitoring comments being made to posts because essentially anyone can find your blog and comment on it. The county would rather block them all instead of giving the teachers and students a chance to prove they are worthy to manage their own sites.
This is where media specialists can come in with new knowledge on new social networking sites that do work and can be accessed. We already know the teachers are probably not going to take the time to find another way around the blockage. We could essentially come in and 'save the day'. With the right research and back knowledge, a solution could be found.
Jones, Melissa. (2008). AASL’s second longitudinal survey reveals schools’ acceptance of social networking tools American Online Association. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/news/news/pressreleases2008/june2008/AASLsurvey
Okay, can I just start off by saying how cute it was that your title is hash tags? I loved it. While I'm probably one of three people not currently on Twitter, I think the hash tag thing is here to stay. I love how the media specialist at the high school uses Twitter to talk about what she's reading and other current events happening in the school. I wonder how easy it is to keep the Twitter account safe? I think social media is a great thing for schools to use but I do worry about cyber bullying and other negative things that can come from social media.
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of surprised that Blogger is blocked at your school. I think there needs to be some kind of spyware involved where a teacher can create and complete surveillance on the page. If any students make comments, they should have to go through teacher approval. I think you're right that we need to allow the students to show that they are capable of using social media in the correct way, however, to be safe, why can't the comments be seen by a teacher first? Is there a way to do this?
Oh my gosh, I'm so jealous that your school/district allows Facebook and Twitter! Ever since I did a presentation on how teachers could use Twitter, I've been obsessed with it; not from a personal point of view, but from a professional point of view! Cobb County, where I am, does NOT allow these 2 sites in particular. I've never checked into whether they allow Blogger. If I ever get hired into Cobb County, my idea is to try and talk the district into finding or creating a social media site that merges Facebook and Twitter in an environment that they could consider safe. I really like Twitter. I "follow" a lot of journals and newspapers and professional sites. It's so easy to find a fascinating article at a glance, and forward it on to someone that it might be appropriate for. Have I mentioned that I like Twitter?
ReplyDeleteSocial networking and filtering in the media center are two subjects that keep me on the fence. Social networking has the potential of being a great learning tool; yet, I am one of those people who is still very leery of students using it in destructive ways. True, we should at least give them a chance to prove that they will do the right thing but I'm still not sure - sorry
ReplyDeleteFirst of all – I love your title! Too cute!
ReplyDeleteYour comments have me thinking about the schools where I work – they have Facebook pages, but neither students nor staff can access Facebook from school. Teachers are encouraged to follow certain school figures via Twitter, but Twitter is not used in classrooms. It seems as if “the powers that be” in education are using a double standard.
I have seen an increase in Edmodo at one of my schools, though. Teachers can post assignments for students and submit lesson plans to administrators while students collaborate on those assignments or just post messages to each other. It’s fun to see how excited the students get to log on and check posts or stickers they’ve earned.
I believe you hit the nail on the head when you stated the problem goes back to internet filtering. We, as media specialists, need to make sure students are being educated in proper netiquette and safety to pave the way to relaxed filters and (hopefully!) social networking in schools.